This invention relates generally to weapon arming systems, and more particularly to weapon arming wire connectors which may be used with a variety of free-fall weapons to prevent accidental arming.
Airborne free-fall weapons, such as bombs, contain fuses within them which must be maintained in a safe condition until the weapon is released from the aircraft. To maintain the safe condition, the fuses are equipped with an arming device. The arming device is usually an impeller which activates the fuse after several revolutions. The arming device is inactivated by one end of the arming wire mechanically preventing the impeller from revolving. The arming wire is connected at one end to the arming device and at the other end to the aircraft through a solenoid. The solenoid is remotely controlled by aircraft personnel so that the weapon may be released in either the armed or unarmed condition.
The solenoid includes a gripping means which is biased in the closed position in the unenergized state, allowing the arming wire connector to be held in place by the gripping means of the solenoid. The arming wire connector can be connected to and disconnected from the gripping means of the unergized solenoid by applying a force sufficient to overcome the applied bias of the solenoid. The force required to disconnect the arming wire from the unergized solenoid is substantially below the force required to arm the weapon, which facilitates the loading of the weapon. If a weapon is accidentially dislodged from its hangers, the arming wire connector should readily pull free from the gripping means of the solenoid to prevent the arming of the weapon.
To deliver an armed weapon, one end of the arming wire is held firmly in place by the energized arming solenoid while the weapon is released from the aircraft. The weight of the falling weapon withdraws the other end of the arming wire from the fuse in the weapon thereby allowing the arming device on the fuse to arm the weapon.
To jettison the weapon unarmed, the arming wire connector must be released or extracted from the unenergized arming solenoid.
Known types of arming devices have not been consistently reliable for jettisoning weapons in the unarmed condition. The lack of consistency in jettisoning has been caused by the failure of the arming wire connector to disconnect from the unenergized solenoid when the force applied was not in-line, thereby unintentionally pulling the arming wire from the fuse of the weapon and arming it. To overcome this problem the omnidirectional weapon arming wire connector of the present invention was developed.